Sweet & Sour Beef Strips with Broccoli
Twenty minutes from a cold pan to a full plate. The beef strips brown first, come out while the vegetables and sauce build, then return at the end to absorb the sweet and sour glaze without overcooking.
The sauce is five pantry ingredients stirred together: tomato paste, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, and a splash of water. Frozen pineapple chunks go in last, thawing into the glaze and loosening it naturally while adding sweetness. Brown rice, broccoli, bell pepper, and sliced carrots round out the plate. 762 kcal per serving.
Ingredients
- beef strips 3 ounces
- brown rice 3 ounces
- red onion 0.25
- garlic 1 clove
- ginger 1 slice
- bell pepper 1
- carrot 1
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- broccoli florets (frozen) 4 ounces
- tomato paste 0.5 tablespoon
- soy sauce 0.5 tablespoon
- vinegar 0.5 tablespoon
- honey 1 tablespoon
- water 3 tablespoons
- pineapple chunks (frozen) 2 ounces
Method
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Allow the beef strips to come to room temperature and season with salt and pepper.
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Cook the rice according to the package instructions.
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Meanwhile, slice the onion into thin rings, press the garlic and grate the ginger. Cut the bell pepper into cubes and the carrot into thin slices.
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Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the beef strips and cook until browned, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan and set it aside.
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Add the onion and garlic to the same pan and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the bell pepper, carrot and broccoli and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.
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Stir in the ginger, tomato paste, soy sauce, vinegar, honey and water. Mix well and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes. If needed, add a dash more water.
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Add the frozen pineapple chunks and cook for another 2 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly and the pineapple is heated through.
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Return the beef strips to the pan and mix everything together. Let it simmer for another 1-2 minutes until everything is heated through. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
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Serve the sweet and sour beef strips with the vegetables and rice.
Pull the beef strips from the pan after browning and let the vegetables cook in the residual fat and fond. Returning the beef in the last 1-2 minutes keeps it tender. Leaving it in for the full stir-fry overcooks thin strips into chewy shreds.
The frozen broccoli in this recipe was blanched before freezing, a standard industrial step that keeps the florets green and firm for months. That same blanching destroys myrosinase, the enzyme needed to convert glucoraphanin into sulforaphane. The broccoli still delivers fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. The sulforaphane pathway is inactive.
Dosz & Jeffery, 2013 · DOIWhy This Works
Behind this recipe
Can I use fresh broccoli instead of frozen?
Fresh broccoli works well in this stir-fry. Cut it into small florets and add it with the bell pepper and carrot. The cooking time stays the same. One difference worth knowing: fresh broccoli contains active myrosinase, the enzyme needed to produce sulforaphane. Frozen broccoli loses that enzyme during industrial blanching before packaging. Both versions deliver fiber, vitamin C, and potassium.
Why remove the beef strips before cooking the vegetables?
Thin-cut beef strips cook fast. 3-4 minutes is enough to brown the outside and set the inside. If they stay in the pan through the full vegetable cook and sauce build, they overcook and turn chewy. Pulling them out and returning them at the end lets the beef absorb the sauce while staying tender.
Can I use white rice instead of brown rice?
White rice works and cooks faster. Brown rice contributes more fiber per serving, which is part of how this meal reaches 12g total. The calorie difference between the two is small. Use whatever you have on hand.
